Broken Silence
by Miss-Scooty-pants
Summary: Victims are showing up in New York City with numbers identifying them as victims. But who is this killer loose on the streets on New York. Their Only witnesses to the first crime is a security tape which doesn't shed much light and a mute girl. Can they b
1. Chapter 1

The dark alley ways of New York City were littered with trash. In the safety of a nearby doorway a young teenager was huddled into a corner trying her best to make it through another rainy night. Her night had been pretty uneventful that was all going to change. For the worse. She could hear to people arguing.

"Please, stop I promise that I won't tell anyone!" the person's voice was shaky. A distinct tone of fear was evident.

"Shut up. I didn't come to hear you talk." the sound of a slap echoed throughout the alley.

The young girl whose home now was the streets clutched her bag close to her in fear. Not daring to move an inch out of fear for what would happen if she was noticed. The argument carried on for several minutes until several gun shots ended it. Not getting a chance to react to the situation that had unfolded before her a dark figure pinned her against the brick building their eyes were that of a murderer.

"You didn't see or hear anything. If your thinking about going to the cops don't because the results might not be favorable." he proceeded to smack her around so she would get the message. "Talk and you'll end up like her ya hear!" he gave her one last taste of what would happen if she talked before taking off.

Shaking she collected her belongings and slung her bag over her shoulder she would return to the one place that she truly felt safe. St. Anne's.

* * *

The next morning a worker from a restaurant came out into the back alley to dump a few missed trash bags from last nights clean up. Taking only four steps out of the doorway her tripped over the bullet riddled body sending the bags crashing with a loud clatter. Hearing the commotion from inside the restaurant his boss came out ready to yell at him but stopped when his eyes caught sight of the body.

"Get inside and call the police!" his boss stood there staring at the body. _And who said that the restaurant business wasn't full of surprises?_ he thought to himself before returning inside.

The detectives of the special victims unit were assigned to this case because there were obvious sexual elements to the crime. The sheet that covered the body of the victim hid the horror that lurked under it. Things did not look good at the moment.

"Either no one saw anything or no one is willing to talk." They've had to deal with cases like this before in the past somehow they made it through.

"We'll at least big brother is watching." Munch stated at he pointed up to the cameras the city had recently installed.

Elliot and Munch were sent to go view the tapes while Fin and Olivia stayed behind to investigate the crime scene with the ME.

While viewing the security tapes there was one spot in particular that really caught detective Stabler's eye. On the girl's back pack there was a small pin he knew that he had seen it somewhere before. Racking his brain it hit him like a ton of bricks where he had seen it before.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" Munch asked confused.

"St. Anne's".

Back at the crime scene Olivia and Fin were going over the details of the crime with Warner. The body was that of a young girl presumed to be in her late twenties to early thirties.

"Who ever did this didn't want her living I've counted six different entrance wounds." Warner said as she looked the body over.

Standing over the body Fin noticed a number had been written on the girl's wrist.

"What's that all about? Number one what?"

"First victim?"

"No way was this a first timer. It's too neat to be someone with no experience." interjected Melinda.

"You mean this guy had other victims out there that we don't know about?" Fin was displeased at his realization.

"Cragen is gonna love this!"

"That's just great! This guy has other victims out there and we have no idea where they are?"

"Munch and Elliot are looking at security tapes now."

"Alright what do we know?"

"Vic's name is Shannon Taylor. Cause of death six gun shots to the chest."

"Yeah, our victim had a number written on her were thinking that he might have other people in mind with the same fate."

"Number, what number?"

"On the vic's wrist a number had been written identifying her as number one."

"Alright see if anything matches in the database go back as far as you can" Cragen wiped his hands over his face trying to erase his tiredness.

Unfortunately there would be nothing that would come close to this crime. They were now playing whole different ball game.

* * *

St Anne's had become a well known and trusted place for runaways and the lost soul of New York. The young teen who had witnessed the crime had taken refuge there where she knew that she would actually be safe for the night. Several cases Sister Peg had assisted them with and today would be no exception. They had gone to her several times mostly because she knew the working girls. Sister Peg greeted Elliot and Munch though she had little contact with the older detective.

"Detectives what can I do for you?" she asked making up a new bed.

"Were looking to speak to someone who's a witness to a crime we're investigating." Elliot showed Sister Peg a photo of a girl her purple dyed hair fell just below her jaw. Sister Peg knew right away who it was.

"Ah that would be Alley Cat she's been coming here for several months now. I doubt she's going to talk to you though."

"Why?" Munch peered at her over the top of his glasses as he always did.

"In the several months she's come here she's hardly said a word."

"She's kind of a mute." said a girl that was helping make beds.

That was all they needed now was something to make their case even harder. Now their biggest hurdle was going to end Alley Cat's silence by gaining her trust.


	2. Chapter 2

"You mean she's mute?"

"Close to it. Why do you need to speak with her?"

"She may have witnessed a murder that we're investigating we just want to ask her a few questions."

In a room not too far away the young girl known only as Alley Cat sat staring out the window little did she know that she had visitors.

"Alley Cat, can you come here?"

A young girl shuffled into the room with her head bowed down raising it up her face was marred with bruises and cuts. The murderer really did try his hardest to make his threat clear to her. Elliot pulled his coat to the side showing his badge. Alley took one look at and knew right away she had to make her escape, and do it now. She started to slowly back away but as she turned to leave she was stopped by Munch who had grabbed her by the wrist. He quickly grabbed her around the waist but not in such a manner that her arms were pinned to her side. Elbowing her captor twice in the stomach he let her go as he tried ot catch his breath. Seeing this as her opportunity to escape she kept on going not once did she take a look back to see if Munch was going to chase after her she wasn't going to take the chance.

"Elliot she's on the move." Munch breathlessly got out.

Though Elliot was no where to be found. He knew the layout of St. Anne's as if he had built it himself brick by brick. Going out the back door he readied himself as he hid around the side of the building. He lunged at the sound of feet hitting the pavement. He and the girl went crashing to the ground. Alley struggled hard to break the hold that Stabler had on her. She wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Relax, we just want to talk to you." he said in a soothing voice trying to calm her down.

Still she struggled to get away but Elliot had put most of his weight on top of her pinning her to the ground. Easing her up he never once let go of her for he knew she would take off again. Outside St. Anne's a small group of curious on lookers gathered wondering what was going on. It would take both Munch and Stabler to drag her towards the squad car. Alley's heartbeat was going a mile a minute she had no idea where she was being taken and frankly it scared her. As the rear door opened she made a last desperate attempt to break the hold. She bit down on Elliot's hand causing him to yell out in pain, but it wasn't enough. It was hard work but they eventually got her into the back of the squad car. There was no way for her to escape now. Despite her odds for an escape she frantically clawed at the doors like a wild animal. Eventually she wore her self out to the point where she was physically unable to fight anymore. Turning around Munch couldn't help but compare her to a frightened child. Her purple hair did little to hide the damage that had been done to her face. Getting her into the squad room was going to be a hell of a lot easier then getting her in the car. She was so worn out that she could hardly hold her weight. Ushering her into an interview room Elliot signaled for Olivia to follow.

"Who's that?" Fin inquired.

"Our only witness."

Yes they might have had their only witness but they were going to need more then a sledge hammer to break down the walls that she had built.

Alley sat in one chair while Olivia and Elliot stood against the wall. No matter how she looked at Elliot she still found him intimidating. Their attempts at gaining her trust failed horribly. Olivia decided to go a different root.

"What you saw must have been pretty scary huh?"

Alley just looked at her as if she had three heads. What did she think that by talking to her like she was a little kid that was going to work? She had another thing coming. After spending nearly two hours it was clear that Elliot nor Olivia were going to get this girl to talk. There was something about Elliot that scared her. Maybe it was his hard front. Giving in both detectives regrouped.

"She's not going to be talking any time soon." Elliot ran his hands over his face hoping to erase defeat off his face.

"Can you blame her? What about Huang?"

"On some assignment."

"Captain let me talk to her. I know how to speak teenager."

Cragen remembered when they were working the Ramos case Munch had gotten her eldest son to talk to him. Maybe just maybe he could to it again.

"Sure go ahead."

The door to the room where she had been put opened and Alley soon found herself staring at the man who she had elbowed back at St. Anne's. Her eyes went wide with fear as he shut the door behind him. Taking a seat he set a warm cup of coffee before her. She eyed him for she was unclear of his motives. Half of her brain told her that he was okay while the other was screaming at her telling her that at any second he could and would retaliate. Pushing the cup closer to her she slowly wrapped her hands around it. The warmth that was radiating from it sent a shiver down her spine that seemed to go right through her bones. Handing her the jacket part of his suit Alley was unsure of his gesture. Was it genuine or some sort of trick? Upon her not taking it he draped his jacket over her shoulders. She looked up at him with thankful eyes.

"You know I knew a girl like you once. She never spoke a word to anyone. Except for one person. I was about the same age you are now and she had witnessed something pretty bad. You know till this day we still talk to each other. Alley you know that it's okay to talk about what you saw."

Alley just shook her head he made it clear what would happen if she did. She couldn't place it but something about detective Munch made her trust him. He genuinely wanted to help her and that was a rare thing in today's society nowadays there are far too many people out to make another suffer.

Behind the glass Elliot and Cragen watch their fellow coworker try to get Alley to talk to him. Both of them listened in on their conversation. John had this way of dealing with children that made him seem like he'd be the perfect father. Though his ex-wives didn't agree. Was his story about the girl just a ploy to get her to open up about what had happened? Only Munch knew that answer to that.

"You think she's going to talk?" Elliot asked

"We can only hope."

Alley had wrapped the coat tighter around her body and pulled her knees up to her chest Johns' jacket engulfed her tiny frame. She had been though something that your average person never witnessed. After being tossed out by her parents she felt that the whole world had simply abandoned her. After trusting many people and being betrayed Alley just kept to herself and edventually stopped talknig, because it was easier then trusting someone again. She lived by the rule don't trust anyone and only count on yourself. But meeting Munch changed her opinion about people.

"Look at me, we can help you—I can help you but you have to talk to me." he paused for a second "You can trust me, I'm a cop" he playfully added.

It was like someone had lit a fire under the chair she was sitting on. Huddling in the corner of the interigation room Alley tried her damnedest to make herself as small as possible, Elliot and Captian Cragen stood bewildered behind the glass her reaction was not what they expected. Her eyes were filled with both fear and tears and her body began to shake. Munch cautiously approached the small cowering frame careful not to spook her anymore then what she was, he slowly got down to her height and locked eyes with her. The look in her eyes pained him so much.

"Alley… what's wrong? I'm sworn to do no harm."

Hours had passed since she had been first brought in by the two detectives and little to no progress had been made. Assing the damage that had been done to her face Munch excused himself for a seocnd to return with a fresh ice pack. Returning to his spot beside the girl he held it out for her to take, which she gladly accepted. Something just didn't sit right with John, why did she have such a strong reaction to when he said he was a cop. The detective was about to head for the door when a hardly audiabe voice stopped him.

"That's what he said."

Alley had been thorugh so much in the last few days that she was completely exhausted in every scence of the word. She just sat there on the floor and began to sob. John just stood there his heart breaking into a million pieces as he watched. Alley looked up to see Munch take a seat next to her, She just couldn't take it anymore Alley just fell into his arms and let the tears flow freely.


End file.
